How To Fight A Dragon's Fury Fan made Edition
by rotghttyd1996
Summary: While waiting for Cressida Cowell's Book 12 How To Fight A Dragon's Fury,I'm working on one myself.I'm going to answer the questions Cressida left in Book 11:How can Hiccup get to Tomorrow now that the borders are guarded?How will Hiccup become the King Of Wilderwest with none of the things?Surely Alvin The Treacherous cannot be the King?Surely this is not the end of the Dragon?
1. Chapter 1

Warnings:Any relationship to any similarity to Cressida Cowell's original work (except chapter 1) whatsoever is entirely coincidental,you have been warned.

Chapter 1 Whenever you think it couldn't be worse than it already is

On the small isle of Hero's End, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III lay unconscious. His face was so pale that it looked no different than a white sheet of paper. On his chest perched a very ancient dragon, over 1000 years old, as small as a kitten, called Wodensfang.

It was almost the dawn of the twelfth day of Doomsday, known as the Doomsday of Yule. The sun was rising from behind the cursed Island Of Tomorrow, and was rising higher, which meant Hiccup wouldn't have much time left to get all the lost things back. What's worse, the tide was coming in, all round him, the sand was getting ever wetter than before. The boy's eyelid fluttered.

'You have to wake up!' whispered Wodensfang beside Hiccup's ear.

The boy did not move, but his chest was rising and falling much more quickly than before.

'Oh thank the great winds in the sky', exclaimed the Wodensfang in relief, 'He's alive and he's waking up'

The boy's eyelid opened. Or rather one of them did. The other was so split and bruised that he could barely open it.

'Where am I?', whispered Hiccup, still coughing out the seawater and struggling for breaths.

'You're on the little Isle of Hero's End', explained Wodensfang, 'You've caught in the Winter Winds of Woden and the ship sank with all the Lost Things on it, I'm afraid. And yet now, Alvin has them all, which means we're in a bit of a hurry actually.'

'Why was I on a ship?', interrupted Hiccup, 'Who is Alvin? What is the Lost Things? Who are you? And more importantly, who am I?'

The Wodensfang blinked at him, 'Eh,I beg your pardon?'

'Who am I?', repeated Hiccup.

'You don't know who you are?', squeaked the Wodensfang in shock.

Hiccup shook his head dejectedly.

'Oh Dear, Oh Dear, Oh Dear, Oh Dear!', moaned the Wodensfang, 'Just when you think things can't get any worse they get worse. '

THE BOY HAS LOST HIS MEMORY!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 An Unexpected Gift From Grimbeard The Ghastly

In the meanwhile, Alvinsmen and other tribes of the archipelago, led by the Druid Guardian, were heading south, across the Hero's End, to the Island Of Tomorrow.

Before setting sail from the shore of The Murderous Islands, Alvin The Treacherous was sure that he caught a sight of something, something very shiny, with his single eye.

What could that be?

As Alvin walked towards the sea shore, he gasped with great excitement:' Look what I have found, mother! The lost Golden Ship!'

There, by the seashore, indeed, lay a ship, painted entirely in gold and was surprisingly in a good condition. The ship was shining brilliantly as the sun coming out and it looked gorgeous.

'Wait!' cried out the wicked witch, Alvin's mother, as nasty as a walking skeleton, and was not very popular among the outcast tribe as well, 'That could be Trapppppps-'

The witch's worry was, in fact, reasonable.

How could such a shiny ship as this one did not even exist in the last minute but appeared out of nowhere in the next?

That could indeed be traps, could it?

As the witch crept nearer and nearer, her half-blind eye caught several lines of beautifully written words on the deck:

Possession Of Grimbeard The Ghastly

Warnings:

Do Not Step Into The Ship Unless You Are The True Heir, Or Bad Luck Will Follow And Your Tribe Will Be DOOMED!

G.G.

There were also a few lines of words written in relatively small size, saying:

The ship is for the champion of the champions, the great King Of The Wilderwest.

Take it on if you Dare.

The witch stopped for a moment, thinking hard.

'So is it the possession of Grimbeard The Ghastly, mother?' interrupted Alvin, ready to step into the ship, which was much larger than theirs.

But there was no answer.

It was odd, of course, and it was puzzling the witch as much as it did to Alvin.

Pause.

Another long pause before the witch finally drew her conclusion:' Although I've never heard about such a ship,according to the ancient prophecy, the handwriting on it indicates that it must be one of Grimbeard's properties.'

Grimbeard The Ghastly was Hiccup's great great grandfather. As his name suggested, he was a horrible person, a horrible person indeed. He had once mistaken his son, the Dragon Whisperer, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock The Second's peaceful dragon petition for a rebellion and killed his own son on his very own throne. He was famous or his wicked sense of humour, and each one of his property may have some horrible surprises, even possible booby traps. You will have to be especially careful with these thins. And he had created an Impossible Task. He scattered ten of the King's Lost Things in all 4 corners of the distant earth so that there would never be a King Of The Wilderwest again unless that King could be a better man than he was.

But this one was quite different, it was written clearly on the deck that it was the ship for King.

Or is it?

Most of the outcast soldiers were standing still, unable to believe their luck yet unable to dare to step into the ship.

'Oh, come on! It is said it was the ship for ME, why on earth are you all afraid of?' yelled Alvin.

'Guards and Soldiers of the Wilderwest,' ordered the witch in her most formal voice,' Lift the Lost Things Into the ship and set your sail to the Island Of Tomorrow!'

The nasty witch's voice echoed around. The soldiers knew that they had to obey the orders or who know what this dreadful witch and her wretched son would do to them.

The soldiers obeyed, reluctantly.

'Do Not worry,' comforted the witch to her son,' You were the only heir left of Grimbeard The Ghastly as long as the treacherous warm was missing. Besides, the things could not do much harm to you for the little rat was dead.*'[*Of course we knew the witch who she referred to, right? The treacherous warm - Snotface Snotlout, The little rat – Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III]

The witch, of course, did not know that Hiccup was still alive, barely alive, but alive still, far away on the small isle of Hero's End. She and her son were carried away by the joy of the triumph of becoming a King.

And Alvin should have learnt a lesson from his previous experience, every part of Alvin which could be called a human was gone thanks to Grimbeard The Ghastly. What was left for Alvin now was a bald head, a face with no nose and a single eye, an entire hand missing from the forearm, a broken leg. Of course, all those were, in fact, Alvin's fault and there's no doubt about that. Many years ago when we first met him, Alvin was a rather charming and elegant person, and then all these accidents had turned him completely into a villain.

He no longer was the person he had been before, no, he became even worse.

The tribe had already been DOOMED the moment they stepped into the ship.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Finding Hiccup

Far far away in the sky, an invisible dragon, along with his two little riders, had been searching, searching for a boy who was claimed to be dead. They had been searching in this way for a couple of hours already, but nothing was found.

They had flown over the Murderous Mountains; flown across the Hero's Gap; flown to the north, south, east and west; flown to everywhere they could possibly reach, but what they saw was either burnt trees, woods, forests or skeletons of dragons from the Dragon Rebellion. It was indeed a truly horrifying scene.

'We won't find Hiccup by this rate.' moaned Fishlegs in despair, nearly losing his hope.

'Oh, do cheer up, Fishlegs!' The little girl sitting beside him patted him on the shoulder, trying to comfort him,' Hiccup had narrowly escaped quite a lot impossible situations before. He will survive and we will find him!'

Easier Said Than Done.

As the sun rose higher and higher, their hope became fainter and fainter.

But, just at the exact moment, the middle head glimpsed a little shadow in the west. Suddenly, the 3-head dragon changed its course and flew to the isle of Hero's End.

'What's wrong?' asked Fishlegs, worrying that it might be the Dragon Rebellion.

'I saw a shadow in the small isle of Hero's End.' explained Patient, the middle head,' It could be your friend.'

Termagant must have taught the Shadow Dragon some Norse for fear of emergency. Well, it came in handy now.

'Another one?' sighed Stormfly, a little annoyed. Her color turned a bit red, still believing that she was unique for her fluent Norse.

'We are the dragon with the best eyesight in the Dragon World,' cooed the three dragon heads together, ignoring the little Mood Dragon,' If there is a shadow appearing out of nowhere in these islands, it might as well be your friend.'

'See?', cheered Camicazi with great delight, 'Hiccup is somewhere out there. He was not dead after all!'

As they drew nearer and nearer to the small island, they saw two figures: one was an ancient and small dragon; the other was a human boy. The lame leg, the tattered clothes, surely it was Hiccup.

It was Hiccup indeed.

'Down, Deadly Shadow, down!' shouted Fishlegs excitedly, 'Down to this island.'

'I couldn't believe it! Hiccup, Hiccup, he is alive!' with tears bursting out, Fishlegs couldn't help his hands waving to Hiccup's direction.

Of course, they were too distant away; Hiccup could not see them, let alone hear them.

'When you were missing from the Amber Slavelands, I thought you were dead,' admitted Camicazi guiltily, 'but Hiccup, he had never given up hope on you. He kept finding and finding, and finally, there you were, in that glass cave, with the Dragon Jewel in it. It was you who helped Hiccup find the last but most important King's Lost Thing actually.'

'I did?' Fishlegs was a bit surprised,' I had not expected that at all. I just didn't want to be dead.'

'I regretted very much that I turned my back on Hiccup in the sword fighting at Flashburn's school, and I swore that I would never turn my back on him again. It was rather suspicious for the witch to claim Hiccup was dead just by showing his lost helmet. I knew Hiccup well, and he would not risk his life in such situations. So he might be alive somewhere out there.' continued Camicazi.

The Deadly Shadow landed on the coast of the small isle of Hero's End. The two little riders jumped off from the dragon's back, rushing towards Hiccup and gave him a warm hug.

Perhaps the hug was too sudden; it almost sent Hiccup spinning around like a top, nearly falling over, but the Deadly Shadow came just in time, and protected the three friends from plunging downwards.

Well, Hiccup **_should have_** fallen down.

That might even recover his memory.

But his two friends didn't know that, did they?

And they would never think of that, either.

A moment of Happiness

Then

Everything Went Wrong IN AN INSTANT.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 'Who Are You?'

It would be good if the story stopped here, without knowing the news, and then the three friends flew to the island of Tomorrow to stop Alvin The Treacherous from being crowded the King Of The Wilderwest.

It would be a far better and happier ending surely.

But this is Hiccup's story.

If I had said it once, I had said it a thousand of times: This is a story of becoming a hero The Hard Way.

No.

That could not even happen.

We are so absorbed in the joy and happiness of the reunion of long-lost friends that we carelessly neglect one simple but crucial fact.

The two friends may still have not realized it yet, but things had gone wrong already

You, dear reader, are not supposed to be surprised when Hiccup finally got his breath and struggled out of his friends' arm, the first sentence he said was:

'Who Are You?'

A very, very, very simple sentence, even a one-year-old Viking child could answer it

But it took the two friends a long, long, long time to take in, let alone answer it.

Silence.

There was a nasty silence.

The silence lasted so long that it was almost as if the time was frozen,

But, of course, the time can never be frozen, can it?

The two kids were stunned, as still as a statue, and their expression was as if they were stung by a Venomous

Vorpent , one of the most Deadly Dragons in the Dragon World. They stood there, goggled-eyed and openmouthed. Surely, they were petrified by Hiccup's question.

The silence continued, almost endlessly.

It wasn't until then that it was broken by Hiccup, by his exactly, precisely, the same, stubborn question:

'Who Are You?'

'Ah-' Camicazi cleared her throat, trying to get control of this awkward moment, even it was the second time, she could still hardly believe her ears, 'You must be kidding, aren't you?'

Hiccup shook his head.

'Oh for Thor's Sake!' whispered Fishlegs. His voice was a little trembling, 'What's going on?'

'The boy was hit in the head by something before being washed away by the waves to this sea shore,' said the Wodensfang slowly at last.

Maybe it was because that he had not spoken for a while, his voice sounded a little strange, so strange that it was almost as if the voice was from far away

'And-',continued the Wodensfang.

'And?' cried Camicazi and Fishlegs together, almost hopping and screaming.

'The boy', paused the Wodensfang.

Oh for Thor's Sake, Oh for Thor's Sake.

If the two kids had known it were the question in the first place, they would never be willing to know its answer.

'The boy,' panted the Wodensfang, 'has lost his MEMORY!' finished the Wodensfang sadly, in the end.

It couldn't be worse, could it?

One moment of happiness, and then it turned to a complete despair.

No one knew how it happened.

But everything was gone, so rapidly.

Silence.

There was a long, long silence, even longer than the last one.

The two children swallowed hard.

This news took them totally by surprise.

They had no idea how this could have ever happened.

'Then,' asked Camicazi, 'What are we going to do about it?' The little Bog-Burglar was a little disappointed now.

'No Idea. Absolutely No Idea.' sighed Fishlegs.

He could not believe it, either.

As far as he could remember, it was ALWAYS Hiccup who saved him from dreadful peril, but this time was different, completely, thoroughly different.

In fact, it could not be more difficult than it ever had been.

The boy could not remember everything, not a SINGLE one; Not his Name, his Best Friend, his Dragon Companion, or his longtime Nemesis.

He had forgotten everything one could possibly value in his entire life.

This could have never happened.

But time cannot tick backwards.

It happened nonetheless.

'And you, Wodensfang?', asked Camicazi. Even in such situation, Camicazi was still trying not to give up hope, 'Do you have any clever plans?'

The Wodensfang was staring thoughtfully into the distance, as if he was looking into the future.

Finally, he spoke.

'We have to take the boy to Tomorrow,' said the Wodensfang, 'before Alvin arrives there.'

(Did I mention that? The Wodensfang was one of the very few Dragons who spoke both Dragonese and Norse. So even when Hiccup had lost his Memory, having some difficulties recognizing his friends, not to mention translating Dragonese, The Wodensfang had no difficulty talking to the two friends.)

'Can't we do anything about Hiccup's memory loss right now?' asked Fishlegs.

'I'm afraid not,' replied the Wodensfang ,'Unless-'

'Unless?'

Oh this dreadful question again.

'There might be a cure for memory loss in the Murderous Mountains,' continued the Wodensfang, 'but we Do Not have time for that now. And to Hiccup, there might be some other way as well.'

'Come, and I'll tell you my plan.'

The three little head got close together, and the Wodensfang told them his plan

'But that's too risk-taking!' objected Fishlegs.

'It's our only chance,' explained Camicazi, 'We have no other options.'

'All right then.' agreed Fishlegs reluctantly.

He was worrying pretty much about Hiccup lately.

And he could not risk any more accident.

Fishlegs is a kind of person who would rather those awful things happened to him than any one of his friends.

But there was no way to change things that had already happened.

The plan had to be carried on.

Even if it might be DANGEROUS.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 A Test For The King-To-Be

 _This is a test for a Hero as well as a Villain._

At the top of the highest mountain of the Island of Tomorrow, once stood the splendid city of the Wilderwest. The places which now turn to ruins and ashes were, in fact, once the magnificent and glorious castles of the great Kingdom. The last king, Grimbeard The Ghastly, as I have mentioned before, was not a very nice person. However, his military talents and appreciation towards the nature have been highly admired from generation after generation throughout the Viking history.

You see, this is the highest place across the archipelago, making it perfect place for governing. It's only a shame that this gorgeous construction was destroyed by the Dragon Force ninety-nine years ago, of course, it was all Grimbeard's fault actually(I have explained that earlier). But still, standing here, at the top of the hill, the entire Barbaric Archipelago-islands of different sizes, shapes and colors-are all in sight, as clear as crystal. If there is anywhere that could be compared to the beautiful scenery from the back of the riding dragons, it must be here. You can see almost everywhere from here, not to mention the Hero's Gap and the small isle of Hero's End.

But something was happening.

Something was happening to the both sides.

Something Important.

Something Significant.

Something Crucial.

I said at the very beginning of the chapter that _this is a test for both Hero and Villain._

Indeed it was.

A Hero. A Villain.

The same moment.

The two completely different stories.

The two completely different Fates.

To be Greater or to be Worse?

 _It All Depends._

For now, let's just suppose that you were on the top of the high mountain of Tomorrow, witnessing the story taking place on both sides.

Take a deep breath.

And Here We Go.

To the northeast of the Island Of Tomorrow was the Murderous Island. Between them was a channel called the Hero's Gap. Apart from the general characteristics of a channel-the rapid flows of water, the strong winds, the Hero's Gap was a very rocky place, through which you might have some trouble sailing even if you are an experienced captain.

You see, someone has been trapped already...

On the back of the shadow Dragon, when Camicazi and Fishlegs were looking for Hiccup on the other side, Alvin had set out for some considerable time, and was unfortunately, about to come across a huge rock.

It was _way_ too close, there was no chance turning around.

Never step into a ship that said 'Do Not Step Into.'

How many times am I going to warn you?

Already too late.

Alvinsmen, Alvin The Treacherous and even his Wicked mother, The witch Excellinor could not make it.

It would be the end of the wicked family and Alvin's soldiers, if the ship cracked into two.

But No.

At least _Not Yet._

Though not made of metal entirely, the ship was manufactured in part of gold, making it Hard to split into two actually. The rock, in fact, did not even do any damage to the ship at all.

Everyone aboard heaved a sigh of relief, believing that they were safe from then on.

But this is Grimbeard's ship.

There might possibly be some booby traps.

 _They were only safe for that moment._

No one, not even the sensitive witch noticed, there was something strange happening, right on the ship.

None of them had bewared of that _yet_.

But the not-very-swift-rock had woken up the dragon hibernating on this ship for ages.

You could not see it of course, it was a stealth dragon.

It was a dragon called Chamelgon.

It was a very, very rare dragon, not even Hiccup has seen one in his life.

Chamelgon

Kind: Stealth Dragon

Statistics

Fear factor···········10

Attack··············10

Speed···············10

Size·················8

Disobedience·········10

Chamelgons are very nasty Stealth Dragons. Unlike many other dragons of its kind, Chamelgons can turn totally and completely transparent, while they are being chased/attacked by their enemies. If being swallowed partly by some other dragons, they will release a disgusting chemical, which can paralyze their predators for a moment, thus earning precious time to free themselves. Even on condition that a certain part of its body has been bitten off, Chamelgon can still recover it in no more than five minutes, with its particularly powerful ability of regeneration.

It must be the Guardian Dragon of this ship!

It must be waiting here for ages for them to come!

 _Oh that Grimbeard The Ghastly._

A Stealth Dragon as a gift on the way to Tomorrow? His favorite type of tricks.

You see, it has always been dangerous to wake up a dragon who is still in its hibernation, especially one as nasty as this.

Drinking water by the river bank, a reindeer, unfortunately, stepped onto the head of a crocodile, waking it up from the hibernation. The crocodile was so annoyed that it turned itself upside down all of a sudden, dragging the deer into deep water and opened its mouth as wide as it could, big enough to hold a juvenile elephant, and took the reindeer WHOLE. The poor deer had no sooner realized what was happening than it was already stuck in the sharp teeth of the reptile, unable to get out.

This was the serious consequence of waking up a hibernating crocodile.

So it was with the dragons.

Even Hiccup would find it challenging to deal with a dragon on condition as such, (of course, I mean before he lost his memory), let alone Alvin The Treacherous and his mother, who had been ignorant of dragons all those times and would spare no effort to erase this incredible species from Earth.

The people on the ship may not be aware or alarm _for the time being_ ; they could not bear to imagine what horrible consequences are awaiting them, but things keep moving on in their own pace, as they always do for thousands of years.

At the corner of the ship, in the darkness, a pair of yellow eyes Snapped Open, and then…

'Ahhh-', screamed a soldier in horror, breaking the absolutely peaceful silence.

Other soldiers standing around stared at him, opening their eyes widely, as if he was an Alien from some Outer Universe. Up and down they looked, in amazement, or rather, amusement. But it seemed nothing was wrong, or at least they _thought_ there was nothing wrong.

But then again...

'Ahhhhhh-', screamed the same soldier, even louder than the last time, as if he was being bitten by something.

'I am going to kill that irritating soldier,' said Alvin to himself furiously on the other side of the ship.

 _He must have heard the screaming._

 _'_ I have forgiven their hitting a rock by what they said "Accident". Such idiots! I'm not letting them off that easily this time!' Then he stomped off, putting away the spyglasses stolen from Norbert The Nutjob a long time ago. He was using them to inspect the Island Of Tomorrow.

While Alvin was walking to the other side of the ship, let's just paused for a little while and caught up with what was happening just now.

A moment ago, when the dragon was awake, it accidentally swept its tail across one of the soldiers' leg. Although not intended, it was not a gentle blow at all. However, no one was paying attention, not even the soldier himself. What he felt was just a sharp pain surging across his leg. Crouching down to check it later, he thought it was all right. But then, after the soldier stood up, the cold, iron tail began to twine and twist around his leg again...

Round and round it twined, almost endlessly...

The soldier had already felt the strength around his ankle now.

He knew that he was in Big, Big Trouble.

He knew that he would be Done For once those 'imaginary circles' tighten up, but yet he could not understand it.

Why would he understand it?

Looking down, he saw nothing.

Were his eyes tricking him?

But the matter was getting worse. He was losing sense of his feet now. He could still feel it seconds ago, but Not Any More…

This couldn't be an illusion, could it?

It seemed the more he struggled, the tighter the invisible rope bound.

At last, he gave up, lying hopelessly on the deck, waiting for that monster-not-to-be-seen to take him.

Fear and Anxiety flooded into his mind and had finally overwhelmed him.

He screamed again...

Others were alert this time. One can make mistake once, but not the same twice, especially only minutes afterwards. They might regard him as a fool moments ago, but now, you could tell from their pale faces: they were petrified!

 _He must be attacked by something_ , thought the soldiers and sailors, but the question was: **What was it?**

There was an imperceptible force dragging the poor soldier to the dark corner...

No one dared to step forward now. No one, that is, except Alvin The Treacherous.

When the crowd was backing off, one person was actually stepping onwards. You have already known who he was, right?

The crowd made a path for him to pass.

There, lying in front of him was the poor man, trembling violently, too weak to make a sound.

There was no denying something was up.

'My leg-', mouthed the soldier miserably, hoping that Alvin might help.

Alvin was intended to kill him, why would he even help?

But there was something moving around.

He sensed it.

Somehow, he changed his mind.

He drew out his sword quickly and lunged to the left, narrowly missing thrusting into the soldier's leg.

If not Alvin himself lunged the thrust, he would never believe the fact that there had been a Stealth Dragon on the ship. Thinking he was only plunging to the nothingness to the left, the sword accidentally cut something-the tail. And in consequence, a green liquid, somewhat like the death itself, was sprouting out of the wound. Not wanting to be stained with the blood like that, the soldier got up, and ran away as quickly as he could, though with a leg still a little numb.

The Stealth Dragon, horrified as it was, turned to its original color in a flash. You could see it now, but what it was like would truly give you a nightmarish nightmare: though not as huge as a Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus, its long tails, sharp spines, shiny talons and sticky tentacles could give you a chill even miles away. No wonder it had to disguise itself so well; its preys would never get any closer if they'd known how it looked.

But this flash did not last long, only ten seconds, and then the dragon faded into invisibility again.

You, dear readers, have seen the dreadful creature all right, but it was Not Just You, the soldiers, sailors and even Alvin, with his single eye had seen it. What a scary dragon!

One moment of silence.

Then, all of a sudden, like a lightning bolt out of a clear blue sky, it burst into an utter chaos: People were shouting, screaming, shooting arrows aimlessly, and running wildly from side to side, to the cabin, to any where they could possibly find for fear of that invisible dragon.

It was quite strange that Alvin was staying rather calm.

Normally, he would ask his soldiers to kill the dragon.

But Not This Time.

This time was different.

He wanted to kill it himself.

He hadn't been allowed to kill anything by himself for a while.

Ever since One Eye the Saber-Tooth Driver Dragon broke free from his sword at the Flashburn's Swordfighting School last time, he had been anticipating killing Hiccup on his own, but Hiccup just 'died' mysteriously before his eye, and now his desire of killing had almost reached a level of explosion, like a volcano about to erupt.

This might even be his chance actually, (if the situation was handled well).

I said at the beginning: this is a test for The King- To-Be.

Either good to be better or bad to be worse.

It seemed that Alvin The Treacherous was the latter.

Alvin and his mother had become even crueler and more ruthless now that Alvin was crowded the next King Of The Wilderwest by the Eldest Elder. But Alvin, as if he were the King already, treated his soldiers as if they were servants, only a little better than the slaves. Some of the soldiers and sailors, Alvinsmen though they were, were already resentful of their King- To-Be deep down.

So when Alvin was in the one-on-one combat with the Stealth Dragon, no one came to his aid.

Alone, Alvin raised his sword up, up, up high in the air, and lunged forward with all his might, just before...

'Alvin- What are you doing here?!' came the piercing shriek of Alvin's mother, the witch.

The lunge was stopped, in midair.

Alvin pretended to pay no attention, though his face had betrayed him.

He was white as paper.

'What has happened?' cried out the old lady, hopping madly, 'You're the King Of The Wilderwest and you're not supposed to be here on the deck anyway!'

The sudden appearance of his mother did give Alvin a fright.

Turning back, he tried to explain that there was a stealth dragon on the ship. But, of course, it was almost impossible to explain something invisible to your eyes would have even existed, so Alvin said nothing but,

'Mother, you have all the King's Lost Things taken care of, that's all! And I shall deal with all these, Okay?'

'Fine!' agreed the witch, considering the importance of the things, 'But be careful! I have a bad feeling something malicious might happen...'

Then she crept back into the cabin where she hid all the Lost Things.

Curious as it was, the moment the witch got inside of the cabin, her son was having some trouble outside.

You see, when the witch interrupted her son halfway, Alvin had missed his golden chance to kill the dragon.

Several minutes ago, when Alvin was trying hard to explain what had happened just now, meanwhile desperately to hide the sword behind his back so that his mother wouldn't find out. The invisible dragon, however, had caught Alvin's undamaged hand, which was still holding the sword the Stormblade, and twisted it with its tail as it did to the soldier before. Alvin was unaware of it of course; he was busy explaining to his mother and was definitely distracted. So there was no surprise when Alvin turned around again, about to strike another thrust, he was unable to take his hand back. What he could do was only scratching his hook wildly in the air, as if he was going to grab out the heart of the Dragon-not-to-be-seen. But it seemed all his effort was in vain.

Helplessly, he cried out, 'Soldiers of the Wilderwest, come to help your King!'

There was surprisingly no answer.

And no one was coming.

Desperately and Hysterically, Alvin roared again: 'Come and help your King!'

Rules are Rules, Orders are Orders and they Had To Be Obeyed.

Several soldiers (not all of them) came, wearily and reluctantly, trying to defend themselves as well as protect the King at the same time.

But the dragon was gaining power now; it used its tails (I told you that dragon had more than one) to grasp the sword from Alvin's hold and sent it spinning out of his reach, hitting the ground with an ugly clunk.

CREEEEAAKKK-

'Get my Stormblade!' barked Alvin The Treacherous savagely, 'Use the sword to free my hand, you fools!'

One of the bravest soldiers picked the sword up, and cut off the tails twining around Alvin's wrist.

Alvin was finally freed.

If he hadn't got free by that moment, the dragon's another dreadful tail would tie him up around his waist, throwing him into the air, and dumped him into its wide-opened mouth, like a cat playing with the mouse before eating it at last.

It would be a perilous moment indeed if only you could see it.

The rescue was actually just in a nick of time.

But there was still one tiny problem unsolved: While Alvin was getting rid of the tails; the dragon talons were approaching his ear silently, trying to grab it without him noticing. After Alvin, in the end, got his hand untied, the claws Snapped SHUT.

Alvin struggled away with a sharp pain, regardless.

A stream of blood was flowing down Alvin's cheek and dripping onto the ground.

Yucky.

You must have been aware: something was missing from Alvin's incomplete face.

Yes, one of his ears.

Alvin lost it in the struggle.

Oh great! The next time Hiccup (if he could) come across his arch enemy on the island of Tomorrow, Alvin would be just like this: a bald head, one eye, no nose, one ear, one mouth, one hand, and one leg, which could hardly be called a human. It's awful to imagine such a man as this would ever become the King of the Entire Barbaric Archipelago.

Would he?

However, we can't cheer now, because the dragon was still there, even if Alvin finally got free.

He was now mad with rage, 'REVENGE!', he cried as if flames were burning out of his eyes. He lunged ferociously at the invisible dragon.

Every now and then, he even pushed his soldiers towards the dragon for his own safety, regarding their lives nothing else than that of a rat's.

War did bring out the darkest side of a man. And it was worsening every minute.

The Stealth Dragon was at disadvantage now; it was being cornered thanks to Alvin and his obedient soldiers (I would not say that they were being loyal or faithful, they were just TOO OBEDIENT).

It had nowhere to escape.

But somehow, it managed to spread its wings wide, and flew to the open blue sky where it came from.

Well, it was not a very clever idea to fly to the sky _at present_.

The Stealth Dragon, though good at color-changing, could not manage this one all of a sudden, for it had spent too many years staying on this ship.

It was visible in the sky now, or at least, for the moment.

And Alvin saw it.

He drew his bow to its utmost, took aim and shot an arrow, and smiled an ugly grin.

And the arrow struck right into the dragon's chest.

It was almost unbelievable that Alvin could use his only hand and the hook to shoot an arrow so precisely like this. Or maybe it was the anger underneath that forced him to shoot nicely?

Down fell the Dragon...

Despite not being a very good-looking one, it was falling down in a much much more graceful way, to be honest. The out-spread wings had added much of the air resistance, so it just fell down gently, holding its head up to the sky, as if a phoenix plunged into flames, ready to reborn.

And Down it fell, into the icy cold water below, not even making a sound.

The people on the ship cheered with relief, joy and triumph. The Dragon threatening them was dead after all.

But what they hadn't realized yet, was that terrifying dragon had also brought out the worst and probably the darkest side of the future king, and led it to an uncontrollable extent.

Back in the fight with the dragon, Alvin would have got himself killed under either circumstances his much-too-obedient soldiers did not appear or failed to save him just in time. Yet he was not being any grateful. Not At All. And nor would he. On the contrary, he scolded them harshly for not answering him the first time, which was not supposed to be the right thing to do.

You see, the lost ear had taken away every bit of humanity left in Alvin; instead, it filled the empty and hollow heart with Evil, Treachery, Hatred and Revenge, it had turned Alvin to a completely cold, ruthless, merciless monster.

Alvin vowed to pay back the Entire Dragon Species for the hair, ear, eye and leg he lost over the years. He had been waiting for this revenge for an awfully long time. Once, he was only a young and charming fellow, who could only curse those annoying creatures. Not Now. Now he had powers, powers to extirpate the species to his heart's desire. As soon as he would be crowded the King Of The Wilderwest and told The Secret Of Dragon Jewel later on, he would use it. He would use it to destroy the dragons from far and wide, dragons of any kind, flying, swimming or running, gentle or fierce, gigantic or tiny, intelligent or stupid, or whatsoever without even blink.

That would be truly too dreadful to imagine a world like that.

The dragons were in peril now.

But they might be safe for the moment...

Apparently, Alvin had his ear lost alone.

Well, a little bit more in fact.

After being scolded and blamed harshly and improperly, Alvinsmen, obedient though they were, had been planning in secret to turn their backs on Alvin and the witch. No one could bear that harsh scold every day, could he?

Plus, the ship had been stuck here for a while, which meant they had to be hurry. The Druid Guardian and the Dragon Markers could be arriving on the Island of Tomorrow at any moment by now. They'd regret spending so much time wrestling with a stealth dragon on the ship, for they were only in the middle of their journey. But time ticks onward, as it always does. Would it be too late by the time they arrived? I don't know. But one thing was for sure, there's _Nothing_ they could do about it.

While Alvin was sailing towards the Island of Tomorrow hurriedly, let's take our time to check up what happened on the other side, which was to the northwest of Tomorrow, on the small isle of Hero's End.

Frankly, the small isle of Hero's End was probably the most unique isle across the Barbaric Archipelago, easily standing out from thousands of others, with the shape of a question mark.

In spite of the isle being special, it did not necessarily mean the story happening here would be special.

However, it was, by far, quite unusual.

So let's just started right from the beginning of the story, where Hiccup was left in an absolute bewilderment...

On the small isle of Hero's End, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock The Third stood all alone, apart from his two human friends, Camicazi and Fishlegs, and one ancient dragon companion, the Wodensfang, who were all a couple of yards away, trying their best to work out a perfect plan to get to the Cursed Island of Tomorrow, unharmed.

Hiccup, who looked skinnier than he had ever been, stood there, waiting. He'd been waiting like this for quite a while, for his unanswered question of 'Who Are You'.

Ever since his two friends turned up out of nowhere on the small isle, they seemed to avoid that question as much as possible, as if it had poison in it. You can't blame them, of course. It would be extremely difficult to take in the fact that, their closest friend, Hiccup, had survived and lived, which was the best news they'd ever heard for ages, but meanwhile, having lost his memory ENTIRELY. Should they be joyful or sorry? Well, it is truly a question worth of careful considerations.

Nevertheless, the greatest challenge waiting ahead was how to get Hiccup out of this slightly awkward situation. What's worse, they had only eighteen hours left, and Hiccup was becoming increasingly impatient every second after. Who can blame him? Even the most patient and politest person might have lost his temper by now, not to mention that Hiccup was left in a complete confusion, which was rather unfair.

Luckily, the wait did not have to last forever.

Before Hiccup would walk to the side of Camicazi and Fishlegs, the two children and the Wodensfang had already agreed on their plans.

'Are you sure the plan will work, Wodensfang?' asked Fishlegs dubiously.

'Well,' said the Wodensfang slowly, 'I hope so, as long as nothing unexpected happens.'

'I know so!' cut in Camicazi as she walked to Hiccup's direction briskly, carrying out their plan.

'Hiccup!', she shouted in a distance.

But Hiccup wasn't able to answer, as Camicazi carried on, 'You have already know who you are, right? And that little dragon over there is Wodensfang?'

Hiccup nodded. He reopened his mouth to speak.

Obviously, he was trying to say something.

Camicazi, however, had already put a finger before his lips, shaking her head impermissibly.

'Shh-', she spoke in a low voice, 'Don't ask me question right now. Save it! I'll explain later, on the back of dragon, I promise.'

'On the back of the dragon?' squeaked Hiccup, eyes popping out, as if he'd heard it for the first time in his life, 'Have you gone bananas?'

'Yes, on the back of the dragon!' replied Camicazi calmly, ignoring the latter half of Hiccup's speech.

'And please, Hiccup,' pleaded Camicazi politely, 'Don't you interrupt me again. We're really running out of time now!'

 _Why are we running out of time?_ thought Hiccup.

He was puzzled, but he was not allowed to ask now, was he?

Camicazi took a deep breath,

 _Here comes the hard part_ , she thought.

And she continued:

'Now I'm going to answer the question you asked in the first place, about 'Who We Are'.

'Well, I'm Camicazi, a Bog-Burglar, daughter of the Big-Boobied Bertha.

'And him,' Camicazi pointed at Fishlegs, who was standing nearby, looking anxiously at Hiccup, 'He is Fishlegs, as a Hooligan as you are, growing up on the isle of Berk.

'We are both your friends if you could remember, but it'll be all right if you couldn't.

'What I'm going to say next is of great importance. Not just to you, Hiccup, but to me, to Fishlegs, to all of us, and to the dragons we love deeply.

By 'us' , Camicazi was referring to the Dragon Markers.

'Hiccup!' The smile on Camicazi's face faded away, instead, she was now wearing a stern look, rather unfit for her age, 'You, Fishlegs and I are Dragon Markers. You don't have to know or understand what Dragon Marker is now, Hiccup. All you have to do is to remember that, by heart. You'll need this knowledge before getting everything back to normal.

 _Get everything back to normal?_ thought Hiccup, still bewildered.

'You used to be the leader of the Dragon Markers, and given you are alive, you still are.

'Hiccup, you are the true Heir of the most fearsome Viking ever lived, Grimbeard The Ghastly. You have found every single possession he left, which was known better as the King's Lost Thing. Unfortunately, those things had now fallen into the wrong hands of Alvin The Treacherous, who is your arch-enemy if you could remember, and his mother, the witch Excellinor. Once they have arrived on Tomorrow, Alvin crowned and told the secret, it will be the end of dragons. They would be gone as thoroughly as they had never lived. There were only eighteen hours left, which means we'd better hurry up!

'Besides, Alvin, the witch, Alvinsmen, the Dragon Markers, your parents, Stoick the Vast and Valhallarama, and your grandfather, the Old Wrinkly, had no idea that you're still alive. So you might as well disguise yourself in case of some unnecessary trouble. Once we have found your parents and the other Dragon Markers, I will tell some of them in secret about your survival. Is that all right?'

Wow, that was far too much for Hiccup to take in.

'Camicazi?' called Hiccup.

'Yes?' Camicazi raised her eyebrow, looking yet again directly into Hiccup's still a little puzzled eyes.

'I am the true Heir of Grimbeard The Ghastly... And the leader of the Dragon Markers...' murmured Hiccup, trying hard to remember them all.

'Yes, that's right!' bellowed Camicazi excitedly, 'Look! We all have a Dragon Mark on our foreheads.'

Magically, Fishlegs, Camicazi and Hiccup touched the dark purple symbol ended in an 'S' on their foreheads, together, surprisingly in uniformity..

The three friends looked at each other in amazement, and smiled.

Not far away, the Wodensfang watched them in admiration, feeling rather relieved: at least, the Part one of his plan went on fairly well.

'Now, let's get on the back of dragon and fly to Tomorrow to find the other Dragon Markers, shall we?' suggested Camicazi, cheerful as she always is.

'Wait a second,' panted Hiccup,' Wodensfang told me that I could speak Dragonese...'

'That's true!' interrupted Camicazi quickly, 'You spoke rather fluent Dragonese in the past. And the Wodensfang told me that he talked to you in Dragonese, before we arrived.'

'But the problem is,' continued Hiccup nervously, 'I'm unaware of it. How could it be possible?'

'Maybe it was because you have lost your memory.' moaned Fishlegs, 'But it is curious you can still speak that extraordinary language. Do you understand every single word you say?'

'Yes, of course!' replied Hiccup.

'Then it will be all right! Don't worry, Hiccup. As long as we are here with you, it doesn't matter whether you have lost your memory or not. We can get through this, together.' Fishlegs' voice was shaking. But afraid as he was, the determination was quite solid.

'Don't be uncertain and pessimistic, Fishlegs!' chattered Camicazi, 'We will get Hiccup's memory back, won't we, Hiccup?'

Hiccup nodded again. This time, he was staring at his two friends, eyes filled with gratitude.

'All right then, let's get on the back of the dragon!' demanded Hiccup at last.

'By the way, we're not riding on the back of the Wodensfang, of course. He is far too small and too old.' said Camicazi, as if she had suddenly remembered something, 'The dragon we're going to ride is called the Deadly Shadow. It was once Termagant's Dragon, and now it belongs to Fishlegs. It is a stealth dragon. Normally you cannot see it, and nor can the others, which is a remarkable advantage. And thus we don't have to worry being spied from the underneath.

'Speaking of spy, how's your left arm? Does it still hurt much now?' asked Camicazi in an unexpected worry.

'Er... Well, it is fine.' answered Hiccup clumsily, checking his arm all over, 'Why do you care about this all of a sudden?'

'Nothing.' denied Camicazi at once.

'The teeth embedded in the boy's arm have been washed away by the waves of the winter current.' said a wheezy voice quietly, so that no one but Camicazi could hear it. 'The boy might still suffer some pain right now, but the purple pale color to Hiccup's left side is disappearing. Don't you see?'

'Which means,' Camicazi continued in whisper, 'the witch's Spydragon will not be able to track us anymore!'

'Exactly,' said the Wodensfang, sounding much more cheerful now.

'Excellent!' cried Camicazi out loud.

But even with the teeth fallen out, Hiccup was still a little limp, along with Camicazi and Fishlegs, walking unsteadily to the beautiful three-head dragon, and start their final journey to Tomorrow.

Before they started, there is something you have to know, something about Hiccup:

Never has Hiccup, in his fourteen years' life, had a peaceful and sound journey.

Accidents keep happening to him with _ABSOLUTELY_ no reason at all.

And this one was no exception.

Chatting merrily on the back of Deadly Shadow, Camicazi and Fishlegs told Hiccup about their adventure, about how they came to find him, and how Hiccup, he himself, found Grimbeard 's property-the King's Lost Things, one after another, and how Alvin The Treacherous turned from a charming man to what he was like now (of course, they did not know Alvin had also, ironically, lost one of his ears recently), attempting to provoke any of Hiccup's memory from the past. But Hiccup, on the other hand, shook his head, every single time, as if those experiences had not taken place on him but someone else, which was pretty disappointing. It seemed there was a hole in his mind; however hard he tried, he would not remember.

'Oh for Thor's Sake!' muttered Fishlegs quietly, 'We should revise our plan!'

'Not now,' objected Camicazi firmly, 'not until we arrive on Tomorrow.'

Fishlegs frowned. He used to feel sorry for himself, for his unfortunate birth and family, for the fact that he was inferior to others in almost everything, but now, he was feeling rather pathetic for Hiccup, for the memory he had lost.

Poor Hiccup. Oh please, in the names of Thor and Woden, please let him be all right, let him be all right! prayed Fishlegs sincerely. He did mean it.

However, things are not always for people's will.

Just at that moment, a moment which Camicazi, Fishlegs, the Wodensfang and Hiccup thought to be quiet and settled, then it happened.

SWOOP SWOOP SWOOP

Up soared a dramatic black shadow, out of nowhere and out of nothing, rivaling the Deadly Shadow in size, and it was shooting its way upwards at a tremendous speed.

It would be a truly remarkable and spectacular sight, if the three kids on the back of their dragon only were in the mood to appreciate it!

Judging from the figure, no doubt it was a dragon. But it was flying so fast; no sooner had Hiccup spotted it, than the dragon vanished in the clouds, leaving not a trace for the gang to find.

'This can't be the dragon from the Dragon Rebellion, is it?' asked Fishlegs hysterically, his voice obviously quivering.

'It seems the dragon is fleeing from something or maybe someone, so it can't be a dragon from Alvin's Camp, for sure,' explained the Wodensfang leisurely in Norse, 'As to whether it is from the Dragon Rebellion...'

'It is not a time for DEDUCTION!' cried Camicazi and Fishlegs in chorus, 'We might be under attack at any moment!'

 _Surely, this was not a dragon from the Dragon Rebellion?_

Fishlegs was so frightened now that he rested his head on the back of the Deadly Shadow, staying as close to it as possible, as if doing so would offer him some extra protection. His hands were grasping Hiccup's tight, sweating continuously.

'Don't worry, Fishlegs.' said Hiccup soothingly, 'I will deal with it.'

 _No_ , thought Fishlegs, _I won't let you. I'm never putting you at RISK again._

Just then, the black dragon flying high above dived downward all of a sudden, describing a beautiful arc across the sky, and it was now flying underneath the Deadly Shadow as plainly as if it had never made such a drastic move.

'It is going to ATTACK US!' shrieked Fishlegs in horror, though it was not quite the truth, 'IT IS GOING TO ATTACK US!'

For one split second, Camicazi, Hiccup and the Wodensfang were convinced Fishlegs was going Berserk.

'No one is going to attack us.' said the Wodensfang as he looked at Fishlegs with his hypnotic eyes.

'No one is going to attack us.' repeated Fishlegs, calming down a lot more this time.

Even with Wodensfang's reassurance, Hiccup and Camicazi still suspected those were only words of comfort.

And seriously, the dragon was still flying below them.

 _They had not been out of danger yet._

What if the dragon really attacked them?

What if the Wodensfang was only telling a white lie?

What if...?

No.

All those had to be stopped.

Then a crazy idea popped into Hiccup's mind.

A really risky one...

'If the dragon is going to attack us for real,' assumed Camicazi concerningly, 'then we'll have no place to hide, anyway. That dragon must have already seen us on its way upward! What can we do now?'

It was true indeed.

Dragons had excellent eyesight; they could see objects as clear as it was in a couple of feet, even though they were distance away.

'In that case,' said Hiccup thoughtfully, gesturing the dragon beneath them, 'I'm going to land on its back to stop it...'

'Land on its back?' protested Camicazi fiercely, her face flushed with emotion, 'That's CRAZY! That's MADNESS! You're not betting your life on it, Hiccup, are you? You are our _only_ hope. You are supposed to be the next King Of The Wilderwest, not that evil Alvin...'

'I know. I know.' argued Hiccup calmly, 'But I will have to do this. It is for the safety of us all!'

'No!' Camicazi shook her head crazily from left to right, 'NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! Why is it that you always, ALWAYS so...'

'I'm the only one of you who can speak Dragonese.' explained Hiccup, before Camicazi had even finished, 'And if I have survived all the booby traps set by Grimbeard The Ghastly, I can get through this one, too. Trust me. I will be all right.'

Camicazi said nothing. She couldn't decide whether she _should_ approve this risky action or not.

There was a moment of quietness and sadness.

After a while, she spoke, eyes filled with tears, 'If so, what are you gonna do next?'

'Jump off from the Deadly Shadow and get onto the back of that dragon, I suppose.' Hiccup sighed. He was a little scared himself, unsure of this plan, but he pretended to be casual just the same.

He wiped off the tears on Camicazi's cheek gently.

'I will be fine, I promise.' he whispered, 'Be back before you know it.'

'Hiccup-' sobbed the little Bog-Burglar, not wanting him to risk his life yet again, 'Stop being so heroic! You can't put your life before ours all the time? You don't have to do this all on your own, but if you HAVE TO, I'm coming with you...'

'Leave him alone,' said a wheezy little voice, 'Camicazi, you have to let him do this all alone this time, and this time ONLY. The dragon, Err... is actually, an acquaintance. An old friend of ours...'

The voice was, of course, coming from the Wodensfang. He was hovering over Camicazi's shoulder, watching them all along.

'An acquaintance? A friend?' yelped Camicazi in surprise, 'Who are you talking about?'

'I'm talking about... _That dragon_.' said the Wodensfang, unimpressed.

To tell the truth, Camicazi hadn't got a good look at the dragon, since it was its back all the time. No wonder she herself was uncertain of it. How many Vikings could recognize the flying figure of their Riding Dragon by one glance with ease? Let alone Camicazi had never owned a riding dragon in the first place!

'Are you sure?' asked Camicazi once again, still in disbelief.

'Certainly!' answered the old dragon with confidence.

'Okay then,' sighed Camicazi, 'if you insist.'

She turned to Hiccup.

There was again a speechless silence

'Hiccup.' spoke Camicazi, 'if you've made up your mind, then go ahead. I won't stop you, but please, Take Care, call us whenever you need any help down there.'

'I will.' replied Hiccup solemnly.

Even though it was a time for farewell, Hiccup did not mean to be sad. He tended to make a smile before he left.

Fishlegs and Camicazi forced a grin in answer.

And then Hiccup jumped off from the back of the Deadly Shadow and...

WAIT! Hang on a second!

One of Hiccup's hands was still being grasped tightly in Fishlegs' hand, don't you remember?

And he would, By No Means, let go.

Here was a quite tricky...and a bit curious situation, I'd say.

Hiccup was hanging with one hand in the air, swaying back and forth unsteadily with the wind.

Oh for Thor's Sake.

'Fishlegs!' yelled Hiccup exasperatedly, 'YOU. HAVE. TO. LET. GO. NOW! You don't want me to be stranded in midair like this, do you?'

'No!' Fishlegs shouted back, 'but I don't want you to fall _MORE_. I am sorry, Hiccup, but I have to.'

How could Hiccup explain, in a state like that?

Well, it was true that Hiccup might have gone insane, if, at the last minute, the sweat didn't do its job.

You see, the sweat in Hiccup's palm was making it difficult for Fishlegs to grip on more...

Adding the effect of Gravity.

Fishlegs could hold no longer...

And little by little, he... let... go...

And Hiccup slipped...

Down, Down, Down fell Hiccup, ears singing, hair curling-Unlike any of his ride on the back of dragon.

 _The falling_ , thought Hiccup reflectively.

He had a strange feeling that this falling was exceptionally familiar...

How could it be?

For hours and hours, Hiccup had been trying, in one way and another, to seek deeply into his mind, to dig out of his memory buried somewhere he did not know. But he failed; he failed as completely as he'd never tried. Hiccup was frustrated. He'd never gotten himself in a riddle such as this in the past. Nor had he been so exhausted as he was now.

But, you see, there was a twist of turn, a turn for the better:

For the first time, the falling had indeed, reminded Hiccup of something...

No, someone... from the past.

As if flames sparked out of burnt ashes, Hiccup was lightened up by the sudden hope.

 _Who could that be?_ asked Hiccup to himself in silence.

Hiccup was thinking hard.

And then he remembered something, not very clearly, of course:

A Black Figure.

As if mist covered all over it, the figure was blurred and flickering.

The black figure, dressed in Hiccup's Fire Suit, putting on Hiccup's Far-Too-Big Helmet, and was coincidentally plunging downward as Hiccup was now...

Even in vagueness, Hiccup could still see with such clearness: there was an arrow stuck right out of the chest.

That's why he was falling...

And again, Hiccup sought into his mind, deeper and deeper, searching, and searching, and searching...for the name.

Nothing.

No word popped out.

And Hiccup's mind fell blank as snow again.

'Oh for Thor's Sake!', grumbled Hiccup, 'Why on Earth does this keep happening to me?'

True, it is so unfair.

But Hiccup was so lost in thought that he had nearly forgotten he was still hundreds of miles above the ground, and was still free-falling down, towards the black creature now only a couple of feet below.

Hiccup was now falling very fast, though with his limbs extended afar to increase the air resistance.

He could be landing on that dragon in a few minutes...

And Hiccup was extremely worried now.

Mostly, not because he was falling downward-he had been falling all this way long; he might as well get used to it, (though he was a little scared admittedly). What Hiccup was truly concerning about was his glinting memory: that indistinct figure.

How sorry he would feel if it disappeared totally.

However, there was no turning back.

Hiccup had no wings.

All he could do was nothing but falling...

Hiccup closed his eyes.

Too afraid to either think, or look.

 _Oh brother._

And Down, Down, Down plunged Hiccup...onto the back of the creature...

Five minutes later, Hiccup found himself lying on the back of the dragon, miraculously alive and unhurt.

Hiccup was unhurt all right, despite a slight hit on his head, not really serious actually.

And Hiccup was conscious, in fact more conscious than he had ever been for hours.

It was not until then that he remembered... (Thanks to the gentle hit.)

He remembered _EVERYTHING_...

The figure in his mind became clear, as it was, once long ago.

The mist had lifted, and Hiccup recognized it bitterly:

'Snotlout.' whispered Hiccup in remorse.

'Snotlout.' repeated Hiccup, tears swirling out of his eyes.

He touched the Black Star around his neck, fingers trembling...

 _The highest Honor that can be given for bravery in battle._

'You're only borrowing this, mind. Don't you dare lose it, however scary those Guardians are.

'Look after it until we meet again. That star is very important to me.'

Snotlout's voice was going round and round in Hiccup's head, echoing...

But he'd never return, never to take the Star back, never to witness his dear cousin to be crowned the King, never to see the dragons he loved returning to their carefree life once again, never to see Gobber and his father, Baggybum the Beerbelly turn their backs around and re-honored him as a Hero after all...

Hiccup swallowed hard.

His heart was sinking with an unbearable pain.

ALL MY FAULT

ALL MY FAULT

 _Oh Dear Oh Dear Oh Dear_

 _That All My Fault again._

But how could he forget?

It was Snotlout who made him believe in himself again;

It was Snotlout who distracted the witch and Alvin, winning invaluable time for him to steer into the Winter Wind Of Woden;

It was Snotlout who, in the end, instead of betrayal, chose the right side, to become a noble Dragon Marker.

The falling of Snotlout reappeared again and again, in Hiccup's mind...

ALL MY FAULT

And now, everything, every single one of the King's Lost Thing, fell into the wicked hand of Alvin, that cheater, leaving Hiccup with nothing, not even his disobedient but lovely little hunting dragon, Toothless.

ALL MY FAULT

It might have been better for Hiccup if he had lost his memory forever, for he'd never remember the guilt and responsibility burdened upon him; he'd never remember what great trouble he had brought to the Archipelago, by freeing the dragon Furious; he'd never remember how Alvin, again and again, stole all the King's Lost Things from his own grip...

That would be far much better, indeed.

But, it was not the reality.

It was not the painful reality lying before Hiccup.

There was no way Hiccup hid himself from that cold, cruel reality.

Hiccup had to face it, with courage.

This is a test, you see, a test for the True King-To-Be.

Time and time again, Hiccup has been tested, tested his character and quality, tested whether he was worthy enough, either for a Future-Chief-Of-The-Hooligan-Tribe, or a Future-King-Of-The-Entire-Archipelago.

But again and again, Hiccup has chosen to face the consequences with defiance, to put himself n peril rather than his friends, to keep believing in the kindness in people, though they might betray, and betray, and betray him again.

And again and again, Hiccup has worked wonders that no one had ever achieved before, Hiccup has found all the King's Lost Things 'by chance' , Hiccup has stood up straight to the witch, to Alvin, to the disastrous Dragon Rebellion, even when he was all alone.

And that's what mattered.

And that's what a True King should be.

But how could Hiccup, with none of the Lost Things, regain courage to be the next King Of The Wilderwest?

It was truly _All His Fault_ in the first place!

Then a distant voice came into Hiccup's brain.

Honestly, it should have been impossible to hear any noise in the air, among the clouds, when Fishlegs and Camicazi were still high above him...

The only noise should have been coming from Hiccup himself.

But Hiccup heard the voice.

He was sure of it.

And it was definitely not his voice; it was a voice of someone else, someone sounding like Snotlout.

In fact, the voice in Hiccup's brain was very likely to be made up by Hiccup himself.

Though he might as well need it anyway.

'You can't blame all this on your own, Hiccup, it was not all your fault! You're doing very well, being brave and courageous.' said the voice earnestly, 'Keep going...keep going...'

And then the sound dissolved.

'Keep going... keep going!' said Hiccup to himself aloud, standing upright with dignity, 'I, HAVE, TO, BE THE KING!'

Hiccup was a little emotional at the moment, overwhelmed by the sadness and everything he remembered.

He hadn't realized that he was standing on the back of a dragon, miles and miles high above the seas and isles down below.

And then, the dragon grunted, as if it sensed that someone was on its back.

Generally speaking, it would be extremely dangerous in such situation, but-

It was the exactly same moment, when Hiccup perceived the dragon he was standing on, was not a hostile dragon, or any dragon from the Dragon Rebellion at all.

It was a dragon from the past, a dragon by what the Wodensfang said, a friend, an acquaintance...

The dragon would never mean any harm to Hiccup.

It was actually his own Riding Dragon:

The Windwalker.

'Windwalker!' shrieked Hiccup in surprise.

The Windwalker made another grunt as an answer, as it flew gently forward.

'How did you find me here?' asked Hiccup.

The poor dragon, disoriented by the Bullguards, flew away from where Snotlout sacrificed, flying high, high into the sky, alone, away and ashamed.

He would never expect to see his master again.

Then, once, it flew high into the clouds, to the endless sky, accidentally catching the sight of Camicazi's outstretched long blonde hair. And he saw Camicazi, Fishlegs, the Wodensfang, also, and above all, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock The Third.

'Then, what are you diving down for? You almost scared Fishlegs to death!' scolded Hiccup in Dragonese.

'I'm sorry.' said the Windwalker, dropping his head low, 'I didn't mean to. I just want to attract you...'

'All right.' said Hiccup slowly, fondling Windwalker's neck affectionately, 'I forgive you. Now let's go to find Fishlegs and Camicazi.'

Camicazi and Fishlegs, at the meantime, were looking for Hiccup.

It was quite a long while since his departure.

It would also be the most awful day for Fishlegs, for it was he who at last let go.

What if Hiccup would never return?

It was a dreadful thought, really.

Fishlegs buried his head into the elbow, daring not to think further.

Camicazi and the Wodensfang had done everything they could to comfort him,but unless Hiccup was back, safe and sound, Fishlegs would forgive himself.

Yet Hiccup was alive.

And he, with Windwalker, was coming to meet them.

And there, on the back of Deadly Shadow, Camicazi saw, faraway, the black dragon, with Hiccup on its back, flying towards her slowly.

Now she recognized, in no time: the dragon was only Windwalker.

'I told you it was a friend!' came the wheezy voice, a bit jokingly.

'You old, tricky dragon!' yelled Camicazi, though smiling, 'You'd never told me it was the Windwalker!'

'He won't tell you because he doesn't want to ruin the surprise...' purred Stormfly, Camicazi's beautiful Mood Dragon.

'Oh, shut up, Stormfly.' Camicazi was not very much amused.

'I saw it at my first sight it was the Windwalker.' continued the Wodensfang, 'You see, it has something unique, something you could only find in him.'

Looking into the direction that the Wodensfang had pointed, Camicazi saw the Windwalker's foreleg, binding all over in bondage.

It was something unique, something you could easily distinguish with one sight.

'Okay, you won.' said Camicazi playfully.

And she turned back to Fishlegs, patting him on his shaking back.

Fishlegs was crying.

'Fishlegs,' whispered Camicazi, 'Hiccup is here. Look! Here he comes.'

Hearing this, Fishlegs slowly brought down his arm and lifted his head in wonder.

And he did see Hiccup, who was a couple of feet away, on the back of the Windwalker.

He took off his smashed glasses, rubbed his eyes, and put it on again, to make sure that it was not in his idle dream.

There, finally, was Hiccup, waving at him, calling his name and Camicazi's.

Tears burst out of Fishlegs' eyes, mixed with joy and sadness.

Nearer and nearer came Hiccup, only inches away from the Deadly Shadow.

'Hi, Hiccup!' greeted Camicazi happily, 'Fancy meeting you again...and with the Windwalker. Well, how do you feel now?'

'I am fine.' exclaimed Hiccup, 'Never Better!'

'And I have something to tell you and Fishlegs...

'About Snotlout...'

'DO NOT EVER mention that Traitor's name!' bellowed Camicazi and Fishlegs together.

Then, as if suddenly realizing something, they paused, open-mouthed.

How could The-boy-who-lost-his-memory mention someone in the past?

 _Surely, surely he hadn't got his memory back?_

'Wait! Have, have you recovered your memory yet?' asked Fishlegs stutteringly.

'Yes.' answered Hiccup in an unusual calm.

'And Snotlout was not a TRAITOR!' shouted Hiccup, as if someone was quarrelling with him.

There was a still silence.

'If it was not Snotlout, I might have...' Hiccup swallowed, tears running out again, 'I couldn't have stood in front of you now.

'He had exchanged all his clothes and armors with mine, so that the witch would go after him, not me. He was the one who made the witch convinced that I were dead.'

'And Snotlout, he, after all, was an honorable Warrior for the Dragon Markers' side, no longer the Traitor!' Hiccup spatted those words with great difficulty, as if they were tough as stones.

Silence.

A complete silence.

Fishlegs and Camicazi had never expected that.

'I'm sorry, Hiccup.' said Fishlegs, 'Never to judge a book by its cover...'

'Me either.' added Camicazi.

'That's all right.' said Hiccup, 'I just want you to know that people are not always the way you think they are. They are capable of changes. As long as you believe, there would be miracles...'

The test, you see, has gone into different circles on different people.

As for Alvin, his heart was raged in flames, flames of Hatred. He had not, not a bit, of love in the World around him. All that he desired was Power and the Fun of Killing and Hunting down Dragons, leaving not a bone or a fang on the Earth.

Hiccup, however, was quite the opposite. He has showed the compassion and concern for the World, for his friends, for the dragons, for everything he had lost and even for the slaves. As a reward, he has regained his memory and the riding dragon, Windwalker, for what he'd done.

And Hiccup had hope, which he would treasure and hold tight even when others were about to give up...

He would never give in... _NEVER, NEVER, NEVER,_ for himself, and for Snotlout...

He would and _had to_ get to Tomorrow...

 _Whatever it takes_...


End file.
